WELLINGTON, New Zealand — The remote Pacific island nation of Palau says it has agreed to a U.S. request to temporarily resettle up to 17 Chinese Muslims now held at Guantanamo Bay.
In a statement today, Palau President Johnson Toribiong said his government had “agreed to accommodate the United States of America’s request to temporarily resettle in Palau up to 17 ethnic Uighur detainees . . . subject to periodic review.”
Toribiong says his tiny country is “honored and proud” to resettle the detainees.
U.S. officials asked Toribiong on June 4 to accept some or all of the 17 Uighur detainees due to fierce U.S. congressional opposition to releasing them on U.S. soil. A federal judge last year ordered them released into the United States after the Pentagon determined they were not “enemy combatants,” but an appeals court halted the order, and they have been in legal limbo since.
Palau, with a population of about 20,000, is an archipelago of eight main islands, plus more than 250 islets, that is best known for diving and tourism.
Two U.S. officials on Tuesday said the United States was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year. They spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
The United States would not send the Uighurs back to China for fear they will be tortured or executed. Beijing says Uighur insurgents are leading an Islamic separatist movement in China’s far west and wanted those held at Guantanamo to be returned to China.
The Associated Press
